Knitting

When you visit Ellen’s house, you get to sleep beneath a granny square afghan.

A different one each time.

 

There is plenty of plaid for picnicking.

 

And a variety of swimsuits should you care to take a dip.

Coffee cups – even in the bathroom.

The sideboard is ready for popcorn and ice cream floats.

Superheros and sewing machines always have your back at Ellen’s house.

 

 

Teeth too!

Scouting photo shoot locations for my book. Up and down the coast, the midcoast mostly. Looking for sea views that with creative camera work, or carefully cropped, we might imagine to be elsewhere. It is difficult not to be able to include darling areas like the gingerbread cottages in Bayside. And unfortunately some of the best locations need a bit of a hike, not ideal for an entire crew, lugging camera gear and wardrobe; or are far apart, requiring too much driving time. Most of these are shot right out my driver’s side window!

Added Sept 24: The book is on…Fair Isle knitting…you guessed it, and so I was in search of vistas without trees, a bit of a challenge in The Pine Tree State.

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Meet Ragga Eiríksdóttir. She knits.

She gives kids a lift!

She’s glamorous.

She runs in the Reykjavik Marathon!

She knows where to eat,

and where to find the most charming, comfortable cafes for knitting – with the best coffee.

She has goat friends who are as curious and playful as kittens.

She generously shares her knowledge of everything Icelandic, including the special properties of the native sheeps’s fleece.

She has a very creative method of choosing patterns and colors for Lopapeysa.

She is always quick with a smile!

She discovers and makes friends with the knitter who made our sweaters!

She knows all about Icelandic knitting, including the curious two thumbed mittens.

Curiouser and curiouser!

If you need a reason to visit Seattle this October, you can meet Ragga yourself at the not-to-be missed event, the fantastic Nordic Heritage Museum’s Nordic Knitting Conference, October 5 – 7, 2012

This year the theme is Nordic Mittens!

Ragga is a great teacher, you’ll learn so much from her! Cool Icelandic techniques, interesting history, creative solutions to problems you might encounter. You will love her! Your only problem will be choosing which of her classes to take…

Skagafjörður mittens are decorated with intricate and colorful cross-stitch…so unusual and so beautiful! I’m dying to take that one.

Chevron Mittens, a touch of Icelandic lace…lovely! Learn many variations of chevron patterns and learn a special edge technique.

The Little Techie Mitt- many tricky details, learned in one tiny mitten! Quick and fun!

And the one dear to my heart…The Two Thumbed Mitten. Who knew? Great history, clever clever folk those Icelanders! You’ll learn 2 different thumb constructions and much much more!

You simply must meet Ragga, if I wasn’t going to be teaching in at Interweave Knitting Lab New Hampshire I would SO BE THERE!

Who else is teaching? Nordic Knitting Wizards that’s who. Annemor Sundbø, imagine! Latvian Mitten experts Sandy De Master and Mary Germain, Susanna Hansson will teach Lapland’s Rovaniemi techniques. Mary Scott Huff the stranded knitting genius-live and in person- wow!!! Carol Rhoades teaches mittens with Danish traveling stitches and more!!!!

Take it from Gudrun and I, you don’t want to miss your chance taking a class with Ragga. Here we all are, after an amazing afternoon at Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. Of course, you can always find Ragga here at Knitting Iceland.

And look! Like mother like daughter…little Runa has inherited her mother’s sensational flair for fashion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We were happy happy visitors. It was hard to leave. So much more to see and do….next time!
I’m off to an island with no electricity…
catch you next week!
oxo
MJ

Gudrun and I took off on our own, and headed to the north of Iceland. On the way we stopped at the workshop of botanist and dyer Guðrún Bjarnadóttir in Hvanneyri. We got some of her plant dyed lace yarn called Hespa. I got some brown – a favorite of the vikings – dyed with a common lichen, and 4 other colors, a range of yellows and chartreuse, all old old recipes using native Icelandic plants. You don’t have to go to Iceland– visit her etsy shop.

Our destination is the textile museum in Blönduós which we will visit tomorrow. We got a little lost, passing through steaming geo-thermal farmland…quite an adventure. We’re staying in a pistachio guesthouse which was once the Post Office, situated right on the River Blonda where it rushes to meet the sea. The source of the river is the glacier Höfsjökull. Though tempted, the river is too dangerously strong to swim in.